Written Answers Thursday 17 February 2011

Scottish Executive

Constitution

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has estimated the cost of setting up separate departments for (a) pensions, (b) employment, (c) social security benefits, (d) road tax, (e) passports, (f) driving licences, (g) defence, (h) foreign affairs and (i) other reserved areas should Scotland become independent.

John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30960 on 16 February 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Education

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a policy of encouraging a sense of national identity among young children; whether it has provided schools with literature or guidelines to achieve this end, and, if so, at what total cost.

Michael Russell: Taking pride in a strong, fair and inclusive national identity is one of the Scottish Government’s national outcomes. This is supported by a range of policies, programmes and initiatives across sectors and in partnership with a range of organisations.

  The Scottish Government has not provided literature or guidelines to specifically encourage a sense of national identity amongst young people.

  In education, developing knowledge and understanding of Scotland and our place in the world is among the entitlements of a broad general education within Curriculum for Excellence. Within broad curricular guidance teachers are empowered to deliver creative, challenging and relevant learning experiences to meet the needs of young people in a modern Scotland and fast changing world.

  Resources have been provided to support learning about Scotland’s history, for example, and Homecoming Scotland 2009 offered children and young people exciting opportunities to celebrate and explore Scotland's rich culture, history and heritage. Homecoming was also celebrated at the 2009 Scottish Education Awards.

Local Government Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proceeds of the proposed large retail supplement will be accounted for in the local government budget line.

John Swinney: The Parliament voted on 2 February 2011 that nothing further be done under the regulations that would have introduced the large retail property supplement.

Local Government Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has refused to meet West Dunbartonshire Council regarding its budget settlement for 2011-12.

John Swinney: I did not refuse to meet West Dunbartonshire Council. Following a request from the council, my office notified it that I would not be able to meet before the requested date of 27 January 2011 due to my other diary commitments.

Local Government Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what allocation of Supporting People funds it made in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10 and has made for (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12, broken down by local authority.

John Swinney: The allocation of the baselined ring-fenced Supporting People funding of £383.620 million for 2007-08, broken down by local authority, is provided in the following table. It should be noted that an additional £17.276 million in respect of Supporting People funding was also distributed in 2007-08 as one-off, non-baselined, payments.

  With effect from 1 April 2008 the baselined former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for the years 2008-12, although the distribution of the baselined provision of £383.620 million has been retained within the needs-based formula.

  The distribution of this provision for the years 2008-11 was based on a number of needs-based indicators agreed in 2004. These indicators were, at COSLA’s request, and as agreed at the Council Leaders’ meeting on 19 November 2010, updated for the 2011-12 distribution. The effects of using the 2004 indicators were dampened by an interim adjustment, introduced for the period 2005-08, which ensured that no local authority would lose more than 18 per cent of its funding over the period 2005-08 compared with it’s allocation in 2004-05. This adjustment was not retained in the 2011-12 calculations.

  Supporting People Baselined Allocations for 2007-08

  

Local Authority
2007-08


Aberdeen City
11.370


Aberdeenshire
9.289


Angus
6.400


Argyll and Bute
11.695


Clackmannanshire
3.685


Dumfries and Galloway
11.835


Dundee City
11.536


East Ayrshire
7.281


East Dunbartonshire
5.012


East Lothian
7.352


East Renfrewshire
4.913


Edinburgh, City of
35.081


Eilean Siar
0.567


Falkirk
8.716


Fife
23.503


Glasgow City
75.454


Highland
11.223


Inverclyde
7.354


Midlothian
4.766


Moray
5.432


North Ayrshire
11.546


North Lanarkshire
24.748


Orkney
0.659


Perth and Kinross
6.781


Renfrewshire
14.400


Scottish Borders
5.503


Shetland
0.886


South Ayrshire
7.631


South Lanarkshire
21.371


Stirling
4.449


West Dunbartonshire
13.736


West Lothian
9.446


Scotland
383.620

Local Government Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth will allocate Supporting People funding based on the decision reached at the COSLA leaders meeting on 19 November 2010.

John Swinney: With effect from 1 April 2008 the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for the years 2008-12 although the distribution of this provision, including the updating of the indicators for 2011-12 as agreed at the Council Leaders meeting on 19 November 2010, has been retained within the needs-based formula.

Local Government Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much Supporting People funding would be allocated to each local authority for 2011-12 based on the decision reached at the COSLA leaders meeting on 19 November 2010.

John Swinney: With effect from 1 April 2008 the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for 2011-12 although the distribution of this funding has been retained within the needs-based formula.

  The distribution of this former ring-fenced funding was based on a number of needs-based indicators agreed in 2004. These indicators were, as agreed at COSLA’s leaders meeting held on 19 November 2010 updated for the 2011-12 distribution. The effects of using the 2004 indicators were dampened by an interim adjustment, introduced for the period 2005-08, which ensured that no local authority would lose more than 18% of its funding over the period 2005-08 compared with it’s allocation in 2004-05. This adjustment was not retained in the 2011-12 calculations. In recognition of the impact that the dampening had on individual local authority funding allocation for 2011-12 I announced as part of the debate on the 2011-12 Scottish Budget on 9 February 2011 that I intend to allocate an additional £5 million to tackling the problem and have invited COSLA to match that amount. The distribution, once agreed with COSLA, will be included in the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Amendment Order 2011 to be tabled March 2011.

Local Government Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth will provide sufficient funds to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council to make up the shortfall in Supporting People funding.

Planning

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider introducing a national planning advice note on the development of large out-of-town retail stores so that local planning officers have access to national benchmarks.

John Swinney: Retail Impact and Capacity Assessment is one of the courses offered under the Scottish Government funded training programme for local authority planning officers delivered by the Improvement Service. The course covers the requirement for and purpose of such assessments in determining planning applications for retail developments. We will seek the views of planning authorities, retailers and other stakeholders on what additional advice on large out-of-town retail stores may be appropriate.

Roads

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to upgrade the A96.

Keith Brown: We are continuing to improve the A96. We are taking forward schemes within the current programme, including bypasses to both Fochabers and Mosstodloch and junction improvements at Threapland.

  In the longer term, the Strategic Transport Projects Review has recommended upgrading the A96 to dual carriageway between Inverness and Nairn as well as other enhancements, such as a bypass at Nairn and a new Inveramsay Bridge.

  Early design work has commenced to identify preferred solutions for these schemes.

Scottish Government Finance

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the capital expenditure line in the draft budget for 2011-12 takes account of the repayment of the £50 million in capital expenditure brought forward to 2010-11.

John Swinney: The draft budget for the 2011-12 financial year reflects the first year of a new spending review period and, as such, the level of capital available is primarily dictated by the allocations made to the Scottish Government. For 2011-12 the capital budget of £2,606.6 million is made up of a capital allocation of £2,506.6 million plus £100 million of resources carried forward from 2010-11.

Scottish Government Finance

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that the capital investment in the draft budget for 2011-12 shows a cash-terms decrease of £105 million and a real-terms decrease of £113.5 million compared with the draft budget for 2010-11 and that this will covered by means of the accumulated underspend.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s draft budget for 2011-12 discloses a capital budget of £2,606.6 million. When compared to the 2010-11 capital budget of £3,292.9 million this represents a cash decrease of £686.3 million or £736 million in real terms. The 2011-12 capital budget is funded by a capital DEL allocation of £2,506.6 million supplemented by a carry forward of £100 million from 2010-11.